I just did a system restore onto a replacement MacBook laptop using Time Machine. I don't use Keychain, but I do use Safari to save many passwords to websites that I visit. I can manually restore passwords myself, but that would be rather slow and tedious.
Does Time Machine have the capability to backup passwords only from Safari without having to use Keychain?
David
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1)
If you save passwords in Safari, then you are using Keychain. You can see for yourself by using Keychain Access. Safari autofill data uses its own encryption key, which is tied to your login password.
Perhaps you are thinking about iCloud Keychain, which has to be explicitly enabled through System Preferences > iCloud.
Time Machine will back up your Keychain and no additional steps are necessary for it to do that. If you were to restore a system from its Time Machine backup, your Safari website passwords will be restored along with everything else.
Time Machine did not backup my Safari passwords. I use Safari's AutoFill feature. I don't use iCloud Keychain.
So, what's the problem with Time Machine? Why can't it backup these passwords if one chooses NOT to to use iCloud Keychain?
I found this - which sounds like - it isn't possible to backup Safari passwords and then be able to use these passwords on another machine:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/5kzw3g/warning_if_you_save_your_password s_in_safari_10/
I don't know the reason it did not work for you. All I can tell you is that it worked for me, using High Sierra.
Also, my testing method was to erase the Mac and restore it from its TM backup, which isn't what that person did.
Sierra is a distant memory by now. However, my testing method for Sierra was the same. It worked then as it does now.
I erased and restored. I'm using macOS. Well according to what that guy writes Time Machine doesn't have the capability to restore Safari passwords onto a new Mac - because the password database (or file) is machine specific. =(
... because the password database (or file) is machine specific. =(
That seems plausible. I didn't test that, but I wouldn't be surprised. If I had to guess it's part of Apple's overzealous approach to their customers' data security.
I wouldn't be surprised at all that Google doesn't take the same security precautions as Apple. Its entire reason for existing is to harvest your personal information.
Their respective approaches to privacy couldn't be more different.
Similar scenario: recently used Setup Assistant to migrate (Sierra to Sierra) everything that was available in a Time Machine backup from a desktop machine to a laptop. The donor machine hadn't use iCloud Keychain, only local Keychain. Safari passwords, an extension (its data was transferred) and a third-party *sending server* mail account credentials weren't transferred to the receiver machine. As was said earlier, it's normal and presumably caused by security considerations.
The Setup Assistant migration worked great and was easy to use.
I called Apple. The issue of passwords not transferring in Safari and Mail might have been because I did not have the encrypt box checked for the Time Machine backup itself. Although, the external drive is encrypted - but Time Machine probably doesn't know that. What I might do - now that I have two laptops - is run a test to verify.
Apple sent instructions for manually moving the local Keychain over from the old computer to the new, so I might try this next (more for fun to see how that works out).
David
@ishrugged - besides passwords not transferring - from your experience was there anything else missed by Time Machine? I want a little confidence in knowing nothing else was missed before I erase the original drive that was copied to the new machine.
My support case with Apple regarding this issue got escalated to the engineering team. Sadly, I was told there is absolutely no way to transfer my passwords. Unless 1) I use iCloud or 2) had checked the encrypted check box in Time Machine.
Yeah, it makes sense that Time Machine will not move sensitive password data onto a non-encrypted directory. I am using encryption for the entire external disk - but Time Machine has no way of knowing that. I just wish there had been some type of message alerting me to this preventable problem at the time I created the backup. I am glad that I'm not being forced to use iCloud for passwords. I don't use iCloud and never plan to.
I did have an idea (workaround) - and brought this up to Apple a few times - but I'm not sure I was able to communicate that idea well enough or if Apple is aware that this idea wouldn't work.
I still have both machines. I can see every Safari password on the old machine (easy to see - just can't transfer). I could make another backup of the old machine using Time Machine with encryption turned on and then *somehow* import those passwords (and only those passwords) onto the new machine.
This seems plausible - but I'm a bit shy to try this myself without help.
Side note: While attempting to manually transfer the password files from the old machine to the new machine - I took note that it does appear that all of the password files were originally restored by Time Machine - onto the new machine. I don't know what that means though.
Sorry for the unavoidably belated response. When I did the migration, I left everything as pre-selected by the migration process. Everything transferred -- user accounts and their data. I have few third-party apps -- they transferred without issue. Two of them require registration credentials -- of those, only one of them requested a resubmission of the credentials. The request was asking to resubmit the credentials that existed on the receiver machine; I didn't have to manually reenter them. All OS settings transferred.
The Time Machine, donor backup wasn't encrypted.
Update: I've just starting backing up the new machine - using the original Time Machine backup of the old machine. I wanted to make sure, this time, that "Encrypt backups" was turn on. Guess what? It's turned on.
So, now I'm confused. Was it turned on the entire time? I'm not really sure. When troubleshooting with Apple over the phone I did not have my external backup disk used by Time Machine plugged in. I determined no encryption was used without the backup disk plugged in. But, now I believe I probably should have had my HD plugged in to say whether or not encryption was used.
I think I had encryption on the entire time.
Yet, it's a total mystery why my passwords didn't get restored (as they should have been). In a roundabout way Apple strongly indicated that passwords weren't backed up because I didn't use iCloud. Chrome had zero issues with passwords restored. I get the impression Apple wants to force iCould on users - punishing those that don't use it by not restoring passwords. I'm pulling my hair out.
I'm using Safari AutoFill to save my passwords.
Safari stores its passwords in the keychain.
I get the security reasoning - but the use-case for restoring to another machine without using iCloud Keychain seems to be missing - at least right now.
Time Machine: backup Safari passwords without using Keychain?
